The Truth about You and Social Security

A friend of mine has been retired for the past 11 years.
He is 62.
With the downturn in the economy he has virtually lost all of his money because of the Wall Street greed and corruption.
So being a born U.S. Citizen and paying into social security most of his adult life he decided to get early retirement.
Easy you would think, not so fast my uninformed friends.
Upon a visit to the Social Security Administration Office, he discovered he is not entitled to any benefits because he hasn't paid into the system for the last 10-years.
The system is solely based on you paying into it for the 10-years prior to retirement. In other words what you pay, for example, from the age of 16 through 55 is for others to collect.
What you pay from 55 to 65 is yours, so to speak.
So he called Binder and Binder, those lawyers who advertise on TV that they can get your social security benefits, is a total crock of bull.
What the lawyer told my friend is he is not entitled to any benefits.
The lawyer, gave him a simply explanation.
She said, “Paying into social security is like paying auto insurance premiums. If you stop paying, you can't collect because the policy has lapsed.”
I wasn't aware that it was a policy.
Why the hell isn't the money we pay into the system ours?

As always your comments are welcomed and appreciated.